WHAT A DAY
It’s hard to put into words how exceptional the 10th Croyde Ocean Triathlon was (2nd year under Plastic Free North Devon ownership), everything came together beautifully –
☀️The weather
🏊The sea conditions
😍THE VOLUNTEERS (an extra wow goes out these 170 incredible people that made this happen)
💚The crowd
🫶Support from the local community
🍰The vendors
💰Our sponsors; dryrobe, BornBound, Ninety One, 79 Group, solicitors Wollens and Putsborough Sands (more on these wonderful organisational to come)
💪And of course, the brave and brilliant competitors for taking on the stunning and savage course with a special shout out to our FUNDRAISERS who raised over £9000 for charity 👏
The vibe was just electric ⚡️THANK YOU!
THE COURSE & COMPETITORS
🚴300 Olympic and 126 Sprint distance competitors battled it out on the beautiful North Devon coastline in one of the UK’s most challenging and scenic events.
The Olympic distance course involves a 1.5km ocean swim at Putsborough Sands, followed by a 38km road bike course and a 12km off-road run over hilly coastal terrain and for the first time a Still Stunning but Less Savage Sprint Triathlon was conquered, featuring a 750m swim, 18.5km bike ride and 5.5km run. Both took in the sights of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere, North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the North Devon World Surfing Reserve.
The athletes also took on the new technical bike route and were embraced by the local communities, where the route went through, whose clapping and cheering encouraged the cyclists on the new scenic route.
🥳We also celebrated our 10 year competitors who have competed every year since it started – there’s definitely something about this event that captivates people to keep coming back.
The winners of each event were:
Olympic Distance:
Open: Hamish James who finished the course in 2 hrs 22 mins 21.6 seconds.
Female: Victoria Duncan who finished the course in 2 hours 43 mins 47 seconds.
Sprint Distance:
Open: James Thornton 1 hour 23 mins 40.1 seconds
Female: Grace Longdon 1 hour 37 mins 42.2 seconds
CHARITY & SUSTAINABILITY
100% of profits now go to Plastic Free North Devon plus two other amazing local charities; Children’s Hospice South West and Family Compass.
Many competitors took up fundraising places with fundraisers having the opportunity to divide their sponsorship money 50/50 between PFND and their chosen charity with over £7000 being raised.
In total the Croyde Ocean Triathlon raised over £9000 for charity.
The Plastic Free North Devon team have been closely involved with the event since its inception in 2015, and in 2018 the event was awarded the accolade of being the first plastic-free sports event of its kind by Surfers Against Sewage. We have created a robust sustainability plan that continues to be implemented year after year to make this event the leading light in sustainable sports events nationwide. Features of the plan include: reusable cable ties and signage, medal ribbons handmade from old beach tents, onsite vendor stipulations, all merchandise to be recycled or organic with zero packaging, single-use plastics ban on site, reusable coffee cup return scheme and athlete event guidance, to name but a few.
VOLUNTEERS
The event had a mammoth volunteer team who ensured it ran smoothly and went over and above with their efforts from: baking cakes and sweeping the beach free of stones to marshalling the route, paddling out on boards with the swimmers or holding oranges on the finish line. Many marshalls also commented on how polite the competitors were too! We can’t thank our volunteers enough for giving us their time, energy and enthusiasm – they make the day what it is.
WORDS FROM OUR ORGANISERS
Race director Jo Hibberd said:
‘As we crawled out of our campers at 4am to be greeted by the pink and orange sunrise we knew it was going to be an epic day. We have been so excited to showcase why we love living here to all competitors who were coming to take on our technical stunning and savage triathlon.
Beautiful beaches and stunning scenery on top of incredible volunteers and local businesses who got behind the tri to make it happen were delivered on the day. I can’t put into words how much we love and appreciate those who came out to help. They were all part of the immense team effort that it takes to get this event run safely and like clockwork.
The biggest accolade has to be for the competitors new and old who take on the event and continually support us. The atmosphere was electric and we had so many marshalls comment on how polite and incredible the athletes were.’
Plastic Free North Devon CEO Claire Moodie commented:
‘So many emotions ran through me in the lead up to the event and on the day. So much for us to be proud of and I can’t thank everyone that played their little part enough. So many cogs make this wheel go around and I think we collectively nailed it. Showcasing our fantastic area, bringing our community together, facilitating an epic sustainable sporting event with the most fantastic team of humans has been a highlight of my year and I can’t wait to do it all again.’
SPONSORS
The main corporate sponsor for both events is North Devon based dryrobe®, a company on a mission to inspire, enable, and improve the experience of an active outdoor lifestyle for everyone, and whose B Corporation™ certification reflects their ongoing commitment to building a sustainable business with environmental protection at its core. Other tri sponsors include Ninety One, 79 Group, BornBound, solicitors Woollens and Putsborough Sands with many sending their staff and associates to tackle the course too.
🙋♀️NEXT YEAR
Next year’s event will take place on 6 July 2025 and Early Bird tickets are on sale now!
We are keen to share the success of the event and are offering unlimited charity tickets for 2025!
